Sordo takes Rally Spain lead after another heartbreak for Tanak

Sordo takes Rally Spain lead after another heartbreak for Tanak

Ott Tanak’s World Rally Championship title aspirations took a serious hit when he was forced to stop and change a wheel in the final stage of Saturday’s morning loop of Rally Spain, dropping him nearly two minutes and handing the lead to local hero Dani Sordo. The Spaniard now heads a close battle with Jari-Matti Latvala just three-tenths of second adrift and Elfyn Evans third.

Today’s route took the crews onto asphalt to the northeast of Salou for two loops of three stages, which will be rounded off with a street stage on the seafront of the tourist resort this evening. Tanak started the day with a commanding 26.8-second advantage and was immediately on the pace on the first paved stage, fastest time further extending his lead. But his Toyota punctured a tire on the final stage, with the time loss dropping him to ninth position, just over a minute off new leader Sordo.

The Spaniard continued to push hard but with both Tanak and Latvala gambling on full wet tires in the rain this morning, both drivers were able to capitalize and Latvala is just 0.3s behind in second position. Evans remains third and he, Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier are all chasing down the lead, the five drivers split by just 13.1 seconds at the mid-day service.

Fourth-placed Loeb had a mistake-free morning, despite the nine-time World Rally champion not having competed on wet tarmac in six years. He is 2.5 seconds adrift of Evans with reigning champion Ogier chasing him down in fifth, a further two seconds behind.

Ogier confessed to the wrong tire choice for the conditions but, having never previously tested Michelin’s full wets, he was not prepared to take the risk with so much at stake in the championship. He sits comfortably ahead of his main title rival Thierry Neuville, the protagonists split by 19.3 seconds. The Belgian has not been prepared to risk everything this morning but needs to up the pace this afternoon.

Esapekka Lappi in seventh is enjoying being back on asphalt but continues to exercise caution, the Finn now Toyota’s second-placed car as the Japanese marque fights for top points in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Craig Breen was another looking forward to the tarmac stages but the Irish driver lost the rear end of the C3 in the opening stage and slammed into the guardrail barriers, damaging the rear wing and making the car almost undriveable on the final stage. Tanak in ninth is sure to challenge the Citroen driver this afternoon, such has been his dominant pace during the event, and Andreas Mikkelsen rounds out the top 10. The Norwegian has had a spin and lost time with a cross configuration of tires in the final stage.

The FIA WRC 2 Championship is now being led by Kalle Rovanpera, the young Finn just 3.1 seconds ahead of Eric Camilli. Provisional category champion Jan Kopecky is third, the trio split by a mere 3.5 seconds. Enrico Brazzoli is also now at the head of the FIA WRC 3 Championship and has more than four minutes in hand to Taisko Lario.